HinaMatsuri

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Hina-Matsuri
Hina means “doll” and matsuri means “festival” so Hina-Matsuri is the DollʼsFestival. It is held every year on March 3 to celebrate the health and happinessof girls. It is also called the Girlʼs Festival.

What do people do?
The festival celebrates girls, so families with daughters will usually display
special dolls which are said to protect children from evil spirits and bad health.
The dolls are put out before the festival and should be taken down the day
after - it is thought to be bad luck to display them for longer. The same dolls
are used every year and are usually passed down through families.

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What do the dolls look like?
The hina dolls are dressed in costumes from ancient times and represent
members of the imperial family. The most important dolls are the Empress
and the Emperor who are always at the top of the display, normally in front ofa gold screen. At home, people might only display these two dolls, but public
displays may have more dolls representing other important people of thecourt.

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Festival Foods
The traditional foods associated with Hina-Matsuri are often green, pink andwhite. These three colours have symbolic meanings.
White represents the snow of winter, green represents new shoots coming tolife, and pink represents the cherry blossoms of the spring.
Two of the most common sweets for the festival are hishi mochi and hina arare.
Hishi means “diamond” in Japanese and these diamond-shaped, tricoloured
rice cakes are usually displayed with the hina dolls. Hina arare are sweet bitesized rice crackers, a favourite for children during the festival.

*KUJK
/QEJK

*KPC
#TCTG

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Kanji Characters
In Japanese the numbers 1, 2, and 3 are written using symbols called kanji. Thereare also kanji meaning “Day” and “Month”. You can see these kanji characters below.
1一Day日2二Month月

3

三Why not try writing “Day” and “Month” in kanji characters below?

日日月月
②③

④

①

②

③
④

The date of Hina-Matsuri is written like this: 三月三日 because it is on the third dayof the third month (March). How would you write the following dates?

1st January
2nd February
1st March

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Answers: 1st January = 一月一日; 2nd February = 二月二日; 1st March = 三月一日.

①Inspirational Japanese Women
Hina-Matsuri celebrates girls and wishes for their happiness, health andsuccess. Take the quiz below to learn about some very successful Japanesewomen! You can research the answers or take a guess!
1. Chiaki Mukai was the ﬁrst Japanese woman to…
a. Go to spaceb. Meet the Queen
2. Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist. What vegetable does she often paint?
a. Potatoes
b. Pumpkins
3. Aori Nishimura wants to compete in the Olympics in which sport?
a. Skateboarding
b. Karate

Extra Activity: Pick one of the awesome women above or research anotherinspirational Japanese woman and ﬁll out the proﬁle below.

Name:

Job or Profession:
I think she is inspirational because:

Draw a picture in the box

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Answers: 1, a; 2, b; 3, a.

Born in:Hina-Matsuri Origami Challenge
1. Hina dolls (easy)
You will need:••origami paper or square paper
colouring pencils or pens

131
3

1. Fold up, along the dotted line,
approximately 1/3 of the length.

3. Turn until whitesquare is at top.

2. Fold in, along the dotted line,
approximately 1/3 of the width.

4. Foldbackward.

5. Finish by drawing
the hair and the face.
You can also decorate
the clothes!
** Make one for the emperor
and one for the empress.

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2a. Hina doll set (hard)①

1. Fold to make creaselines then unfold.

2. Fold down to meet
centre line then unfold.

3. Fold down to meetline ① from step 2.

①

4. Fold up to makecrease lines then unfold.

5. Unfold.

②

6. Fold ① inward andthen fold ② over ①.

7.
Turn over.

8.
Fold down.

10. Fold
down and
insert into
the pocket.

11.
Fold up andtuck in thebottom ﬂap.

9.
Fold down.

13. Finish by drawing the hairand the face. You can also
decorate the clothes!
12.
Turn over.

** Make one for the emperor
and one for the empress.

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2b. Folding screen for hina doll set

3. Fold in half.
1. Fold to make creaselines then unfold.

4. Fold in half.

8. Open.

10. Done!

2. Fold up to meet
centre line.

5. Fold in half
and then unfold.

6. Turn over.

7. Fold in half
and then unfold.

9. Adjust so it folds
like an accordion.

Put together thefolding screen andthe dolls to ﬁnish
the Hina doll set
for the festival.

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© The Japan Society (2021) | www.japansociety.org.uk | education@japansociety.org.uk
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